You are here

MCEL Research

The Maastricht Centre for European law studies the law of the European Union in its constitutional and political context, with a specific focus on the tension between, on the one hand, uniformity and centralisation at the European level and, on the other hand, differentiation and autonomy of Member States. The research programme of the Centre therefore encompasses the study of diverse forms of integration and differentiation and the problems they entail for the European integration process. It analyses the European integration process from both an institutional and substantive perspective.

In this manner it focuses on four research themes: 1) the constitutional law of the EU; 2) the interplay between European and national public law; 3) the balancing between market and non-market issues; and 4) European citizenship and migration law. The Maastricht Centre for European Law seeks to combine more traditional research areas of the EU legal order with new and recently emerging topics, such as the role of the EU law with regard to science and new technologies.

The research at the Centre thus aims to contribute to both the theoretical as well as the practical developments in the EU legal order.

MCEL Research lines

Niet ge-definieerd

Research line 1

The constitutional law of the European Union

The main focus of this research area is the ever-developing constitutional law of the European Union. The research at the Maastricht Centre for European Law focuses mostly on the issues of EU competences, institutional balance and the role of the Court of Justice of the EU as well as the question of Treaty revisions. In the framework of the research on constitutional aspects of the EU legal order, special attention is also given to the protection of fundamental rights in the EU, in particular to the Union’s anti-discrimination policy. The Centre has an ongoing interest in questions of flexibility and differentiation between the Member States in the evolution of EU law, in particular in the context of the Eurozone crisis.

Moreover, the research at the Centre focuses on the institutional transformations brought about by the development of new modes of governance and regulation. These methods have both challenged the traditional hierarchical structure of EU law and provided new roles for institutions such as courts and parliaments. In this context, the research at the Centre devotes ample attention to the study of the role and place of agencies, open coordination methods, and to the development of networks and committee forms of governance in the EU.

Another focus within this research area is the external action of the EU. The research carried out at the Centre aims to contribute to the study of the EU in a global setting by analysing the fundamental principles applying and institutions involved in EU external relations law but also by focusing on EU enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy and tackling new governance structures in EU external relations law. The research pays special attention to questions of coherence between different fields of EU external relations as well as to recent developments in this field.

Research line 2

The interplay between the EU and national public law

The questions of the interplay between the EU and national law are multi-faceted. Within this research area, the scholars of the Maastricht Centre for European Law study the relationship and the interaction between national and European actors as well as questions of legitimacy and democratic accountability in the context of the multi-level constitution of Europe, including the issues of national constitutional identities of Member States and their common constitutional traditions. In the framework of this research area, the interplay between EU and national criminal law are also examined. Moreover, the deepening of the European integration process has brought with it pressing concerns regarding the effective implementation of EU law in the Member States. These concerns demand a closer consideration of the conditions and factors which influence compliance with EU requirements. In addition, the EU legislature and the Court of Justice of the EU are progressively establishing a sophisticated system of mechanisms for the daily enforcement of EU law in the domestic legal systems. The Centre uses a comparative approach to reflect on the question of the feasibility and desirability of the emergence of an administrative ius commune.

Scholars

Research line 3

Internal market and non-market issues

Within the framework of the research area concerning internal market and non-market issues, the Maastricht Centre for European Law conducts research both in the more traditional and core areas of the EU law, as well as in the areas linked to the significance of legal regulation of issues of modern science and high-end technologies.

The members of the Centre focus, on the one hand, on the legal issues concerning fundamental freedoms and the question of how the European legislator and the European courts balance economic and trade interests with non-economic interests such as the protection of health and safety, consumers, the environment, social policy or cultural diversity. In the field of competition law, research focuses on the analysis of EU state aid, merger control policy and the development of enforcement mechanisms for EU competition law.

On the other hand, the research at the Centre also deals with the role of the EU in regard to science, health and environmental risks and new technologies, particularly the internet and social media. The question of how public authorities should deal with risks and uncertainties has become a dominant concern in the framework of the 1992-programme on the creation of the internal market. The Maastricht Centre for European Law aims to understand the role of science and knowledge in the regulation of uncertain risks. The focus is in particular on EU regulation on food, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and nanotechnology, as well as the questions related to the balancing of the regulation of economic and non-economic interest such as the protection of health and safety, consumers and the environment. The protection of privacy and personal data in the wake of the increased use of internet and cloud computing also constitutes one of the research interests of the Centre.

Research line 4

European citizenship and migration law

The enhancement of the free movement of EU citizens and the gradual development of a common migration policy is one of the salient features of the evolution of the EU in recent years. Developments in EU free movement have redefined the outer limits of EU law and have made EU citizenship into a cornerstone of the entire integration process, directing attention to the rights attached to this status as well as how it can be obtained, i.e. the design of nationality laws of the Member States. The research of the Maastricht Centre for European Law also targets particular issues in this domain such as the mutual recognition of diplomas, cross-border access to health care and the free movement of students and other economically inactive persons, as well as the tensions between free movement law and the protection of social rights.

MCEL research centres around the following research lines

Research line 1

The constitutional law of the European Union

Research line 2

The interplay between the EU and national public law

Dit iser niet

Research line 3

Internal market and non-market issues

Dit iser niet

Research line 4

European citizenship and migration law

Dit iser niet

MCEL Research Seminars

Maastricht Centre for European Law organises monthly research seminars with high-profile speakers to enable the members of the Faculty to discuss the current topics of EU law. The seminars, in which both members of the Faculty as well as external speakers and practitioners are invited to present their on-going research, are aimed at an exchange of opinions and intended to provide feedback to researchers on their work. The research seminars are usually organised on a second Tuesday of each month.